Licence999

Don’t get caught out!

Protect yourself and your business from many licensing emergencies
If you have an urgent licensing problem, call an experienced licensing
solicitor 24/7.

03337 007 999

(Calls charged at the same rate as a standard landline number.)

Download the below poster and display in your pub to show enforcement officials that
you have instant access to legal advice on licensing.

Licence999 poster

Protect yourself and your business at any time

Protect yourself and your business from any of the following licensing emergencies with one call to our hotline: 03337 007 999.

  • Licence breach
  • Noise abatement
  • Police interview
  • Resident complaints
  • Review hearings
  • Underage sales
  • Closure notice
  • Environmental Health issues
  • Expedited Reviews
  • Food and safety prosecutions
  • Insolvency
  • Inspections

What happens when things go wrong?

Case studies

  • Case study 1

    Licence 999 prevents Police closing premises under a “Closure Notice”

    We received a call to our hotline when a City Centre bar operator was faced with the Police seeking to close them down as a result of them having failed to complete fire evacuations tests over the last month, and recording the results in a log book, something required by way of a condition on the licence. On advising the client that a Closure Notice did not require the premises too close and that the conditions were in any event almost certainly unenforceable following the introduction of the Fire Safety Order, the premises remained open.

  • Case study 2

    Council seek to suspend a Premises Licence when fee paid

    We very recently received a call to our Licence 999 hotline from an operator who had the Police in his premises demanding them to be closed immediately for non payment of the annual fee.

    We were able to obtain evidence that the fee had been paid, and in fact the Police were wrong to ask for the closure of the premises for non payment of the fee, and the premises remained open for trade.

  • Case study 3

    Licence999 Keeps Open Pub Threatened With Closure Day Before The World Cup Begins

    Our hotline received a call from a licensee the day before the start of the 2010 World Cup. He had been served with a Closure Notice for breach of licence conditions. Our team got straight to work, advising the client on compliance and the legal effect of the Closure Notice. Through urgent negotiations with the Police, we were able to ensure that the World Cup opening ceremony was not missed at this particular pub.

  • Case study 4

    DPS Walks Out On Friday Evening – Licence999 Keeps The Bar Open

    The DPS of a pub in London fell out with his employers and walked out on a Friday evening, at the start of the busiest period of the week. Using our out of hours emergency DPS facility, our client was able to nominate a temporary manager to cover the weekend before a permanent DPS was arranged on the Monday morning. Without our assistance, the bar would have had to shut for the weekend.

  • Case study 5

    Clubbers Still Dancing

    Using emergency powers, the Police closed down a nightclub for alleged serious crime and disorder. This would have meant that the club remained closed for the three weekends before the final review hearing, by which time the club would have gone bust. Our team launched into action, obtained a hearing within two days of the club being closed down, immediately before the very first weekend, and persuaded the Licensing Committee to reopen the club during the intervening weeks, subject to conditions.

  • Case study 6

    Called to interview by the Police for non existent offences

    A night club owner rang the Licence999 team having been requested to attend an interview for suspected offences under the Licensing Act due to providing an insufficient number of Door Supervisors. Our client thought he had been complying with his licence. The Licence999 Team got straight to work and soon it became clear that the Police had been referring to an old and out of date licence. Without our intervention our client would not have had the confidence to challenge the Police position.

Checklist

  • Make sure you and your staff are familiar with the licensing activities, hours of operation and conditions on the licence
  • Carry out staff training and make a record of it. (You could use the nationally recognised qualifications such as Award for Personal Licence Holders (APLH) and the Award for Designated Premises Supervisors (ADPS)
  • Comply with the conditions on the licence
  • Make sure you comply with the obvious conditions e.g. notices on display, doors and windows to be closed
  • Make sure you comply with the sensitive conditions e.g. the use of the outside area
  • Make sure that the statutory requirements are complied with:
    • Summary of the licence is displayed
    • The premises licence is kept safely
    • The Section 57 notice is on display
  • If the DPS is away for a considerable time then obtain his written authority for other members of staff
  • If there is an incident or complaint, try to react positively
  • Communicate with your customers about making too much noise when outside your premises
  • Try and communicate regularly with your neighbours

Poster download

‘Protected 24/7’ poster to display in your pub to show enforcement officials that you have instant access to legal advice on licensing.

Download poster